Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Prediction: Ricciardi Will Be Fired

Okay, so the Phils decided that Toronto was being unreasonable and traded for Cliff Lee instead (sorry TribeGirl). Here's the thing, Toronto was being unreasonable. I know Halladay is the best pitcher in baseball (shut up Met's fans, Halladay does it in the AL East), but for some reason every time a GM has a guy like Halladay he completely burns himself by pretending he holds all the cards. Consider Bill Smith of Minnesota. He could've had a much better package of prospects from any number of teams for Santana, but he was greedy. He called Cash and was like, "We want Joba, Hughes, Kennedy, plus Melky, plus Jeter, plus Cano." Everyone told to Smith to stuff it. Then he got a bunch of B level prospects from the Mets and pretended it was a good deal. (Okay, Carlos Gomez half worked out, he's good defensively).

Ricciardi could've had a deal with the Phillies, but decided he was in control. The Phillies didn't agree. He lost out on his best trading partner. The conventional wisdom this morning is that the Phillies would make this happen; that no longer holds. Now Ricciardi, who has completely misplayed his hand is left with few viable options. At this point the Yanks may be his best bet. The Red Sox have offered Buckholz, but Buckholz is not (yet) a major league pitcher (no hitter notwithstanding, he didn't even stay on the major league roster that year, and is only there now because of injuries). The Yanks can offer a major league ready pitcher (Joba) and a good prospect, but nothing more at this point. Washburn, it is being reported, is no longer on the table. It may be an interesting few days in Yankee land.

F him indeed. I'm going to start calling you F Bomber. Ricciardi has to be gone. Definitely a botched trade opportunity on his part at a time when ownership wants to cut payroll. No one wants Scutaro or Wells, his best chance to cut payroll and get a large return was to trade Halladay to Philly, but he wanted their farm system, not just prospects.